what grapes & women need to thrive 🌞

Happy Wine Wednesday, and hello from Fiji!

First, an apology for disappearing the past couple of weeks. Between wrapping up the Pairing Playbook with Sophia and launching the very first Wine, Women & Wisdom event in NYC, it’s been a whirlwind.

The NYC event was everything I’d hoped for: an evening tasting Cabernet Francs from New York and meeting incredible women from across the city. The feedback has been so heartfelt, and I can’t wait to return for more events soon. 

Right now, I’m writing to you from the beach, slightly sunburnt, sipping some bubbles and enjoying a semi-working vacation. While I’ve loved the break, I’m also excited to be back in your inbox.

Here’s what we’re drinking (and thinking) about this week:

Pour Decisions

Fiji sits at 17.7° south latitude, just north of New Zealand. For comparison, the southernmost tip of the continental U.S. is at 24.5° north in Florida. 

So…what does latitude have to do with wine?

One of the first things you learn when you start studying wine is that the best wine-growing regions are usually between 30–50° latitude, both north and south of the equator. Grapes grown within this band tend to ripen in that Goldilocks zone (not too hot, not too cold), leading to balanced, high-quality wines.

Think of your houseplants.

The spider plant by my sunny window is bursting with flowers and baby spiderettes. The one in the darker corner? Alive, but not exactly thriving. My snake plant? I completely forgot about her for a few weeks (oops) and she’s completely fine. 

Grapevines, on the other hand, are high maintenance drama queens. They need the exact right balance of sun, warmth, water, and nutrients to become beautiful wines.

Too cold? Grapes don’t ripen properly and you get overly acidic wines with lower alcohol.

Too hot? Grapes over-ripen and result in wines that taste flabby, overly jammy, and lack freshness.

Too much sun? Grapes can literally get sunburnt (just like us!). 

It’s like biting into a hard, sour, underripe strawberry… or a mushy, brown banana. You don’t want either of those in your glass.

This is why latitude matters: 
It acts as a guidepost for the optimal temperature and sunlight to create the best wine on either side of the equator.

Of course, there’s still plenty of variation within those zones depending on the regional climate, vintage, elevation, winemaker’s choices, and so on. But broadly speaking:

• Cooler climates: fresher, lighter wines with red fruit, crunchy acidity, and elegance

• Warmer climates: bolder, fuller wines with dark fruit, spice, and richness

Ready for a fun at-home experiment?
Taste a Pinot Noir from a cool region like Willamette Valley, Oregon (44.9° N) next to one from a warmer spot like Sonoma, CA (38.3° N) or Yarra Valley, Australia (37.8° S). It’s wild how much geography (and sunlight) can transform a grape!

Sip Happens

A few weeks ago, my therapist asked me when my last actual vacation was and…I had to think.

Costa Rica in 2021? A long weekend in Mexico after our wedding in 2022? Otherwise, it’s been work travel or family visits.

Even here in Fiji, I’ve only managed two laptop-free days. To be fair, that’s the tradeoff with running your own business: you can jet off to the South Pacific, but PTO doesn’t exist. Still, even with work trickling in, I feel better here. It’s hard to be stressed when you’re looking at turquoise waters, beautiful sunsets, and sipping piña coladas.

It’s a stark contrast to my previous job.

Just a couple years ago, I was commuting an hour each way through LA traffic 5–6 days a week, working in a male-dominated startup where yelling and arguing was normal. For a long time, I was the only woman on the team. When I finally brought up concerns about company culture, the CEO called a team meeting, presenting a few passive-aggressive slides blaming “team lateness and absences,” “low morale/motivation,” and “a making excuses approach.”

His solution?
No more remote work (which was rare to begin with), unlimited PTO, or tardiness (also rare). WTF?

Unsurprisingly, my mental health tanked, followed soon by my physical health. I felt guilty taking time off, even when I was sick, and focused on surviving each day, trying not to let the daily yelling and swearing affect me. I told myself this was just a rough season and that things would get better if I just pushed through.

Narrator: They did not. 

And here’s the thing. Just like grapes need the right environment to become great wine, we need the right environment to be the best version of ourselves.

We can’t always control the climate we’re planted in, but we can be aware of it. What is your environment giving you? Draining from you? Where are you thriving, and where are you just surviving? Are you getting enough sunlight and water?

I’m not saying to quit your job tomorrow (although if you do, more power to you!). But we all deserve to name what’s not working and take small steps toward what might.

Maybe that’s asking for more support. Finding ways to get more sleep. Setting more boundaries. Maybe it’s just giving yourself permission to open that really good bottle of wine on a random Thursday. 

Or booking a spontaneous trip to Fiji….

When I was stuck in that toxic job, I focused on working out (even when it was the last thing I wanted to do after sitting in LA traffic for an hour) because I knew how much it helped my mental health. I started job hunting. Made more plans with friends. Went back to therapy. Started studying wine and writing this newsletter! 

I couldn’t quit right away, but I began prioritizing myself outside of that office. Even something small (like putting my phone away and letting myself ignore the Slack notifications until later) helped shift my environment to better support what I actually needed in the moment. 

Today, I’m working on creating a better environment for myself by finally booking a (mostly) vacation, putting work outs in my calendar, setting boundaries around when I check my work inbox...and of course, continued therapy. 

If this sparked any thoughts or resonated with you, I’d love to know. I read every reply!

Here’s to moving towards our own personal Goldilocks zone. ❤️

With love (and a big glass of wine),

P.S. Have a work horror story? Vent away! Just hit reply and we’ll commiserate together.